Atlantic Division Semis, Game 3: Learning to win at home

The Rangers blew a chance to take a commanding 2-0 series lead the other night, and are now at home to try to take a pivotal Game Three. Alain Vigneault, who made the single most boneheaded coaching move in recent Rangers’ history is going to have to be better. He’s going to have to adjust.

Part of that adjustment is putting his loyalties aside and playing his best defense pairings. No more loyalty to players playing like crap. If not, then this will be a short series. We all know what the team is, but does the coach?

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Ill just repost this…………….This has the potential to be a series changing game. Would be nice to win a game by showing the Hockey world that this Rangers team will win games and it just does not matter at all who the opponent is……..CAN WE BE THAT GOOD !!!!!!! would be nice ……for once !………LETS GO RANGERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m sure your trying to stir up controversy here Dave and I understand why. But I also know that you realize that Holden and Staal were stuck on the ice and were going to be changed. Of course we couldn’t just clear the puck and then everyone would be talking about the 2-0 we got. If I know for a fact what he planned on doing I figure you did too. But again, you did the right thing so we can get 100 comments on how terrible the coach is. He’s a bad man and he does bad things to kids. Because he has a team of all stars here and should win it all. And he’s loyal to Tanner Glass even though he loves soft players. He tells the players please take it easy guys and don’t hurt anyone

Two games in a row now that Miller makes a careless centering pass in the defensive zone. Totally unacceptable. Just a matter of time until he costs us big time. Very talented player who certainly is giving a strong effort. But man his hockey sense at times is sorely lacking. And he’s not a rookie anymore so this is unacceptable.

Kreider….AWFUL! My patience is running out.

I’m not saying it’s all on the two of them. A lot of other guys need to raise their game and now. But for our supposed two best players, sorry, this isn’t anywhere near good enough, and we will be out in 5 if those two don’t get it going.

Anyone still doubting the wisdom of starting Hank? Brilliant again. He must wonder what it would be like to play on a team with legitimate star power at forward as opposed to the “faux” stars we have. I feel sorry for the guy. As usual, it will be mostly up to him in order to advance.

Love Vesey…he is going to be terrific in the years to come!!!!!

Glass playing with heart again. Anyone still thinking AV is crazy for playing him?

Yeah, I get it. The reactionary fan in me wants AV to send a message and have Buch go in for Kreider next game, but the playoffs isn’t the time for that. Also, I just have a feeling he is not 100% and we will learn that at some point this summer. He’s only 21 and probably still a year or two away.

Yeah he really has. He’ll never be a great hockey player, but damn if he doesn’t play his heart out every single shift. I feel calm when he’s on the ice. He just so rarely makes mistakes, despite playing at 100mph.

Yeah this is a real stinko performance (except tor Lundqvist and 2-3 other guys). And the idea that all we need to do is insert Clendening or Kampfer into the lineup and everything would be fixed is just daft. None of the top 3 lines are getting it done and that hasn’t changed throughout the series. Rangers constantly getting beat to loose pucks, not establishing any forecheck pressure, not getting in Price’s grille and, of course, the traditional limp PP.

The real adjustment AV must make is not the defensive pairings but forgetting about this silly “our identity is the fast break offense” and playing a simpler game, The fact is that the ability of the better teams to defend against the Rangers’ speed exceeds the ability of the Rangers to execute the home run passes and convert them to goals.

The Rangers went to the Bell Centre and came back with an evened up series. Yea, it was a sapping way to lose game 2, but they were still in a great position coming back to MSG.

The Garden should have been jumping. All the at-home woes should have been forgotten, and fans needed to do their part to up the energy level from the pre-game through the opening faceoff and let the Canadiens know this was not going to be an easy place to come play.

It sounded like a preseason game in there, and half the seats were empty at the opening draw. Sorry, RFIB, I love you dude, but there is no excuse for how quiet the Garden was. Maybe a little boisterous pride in one’s team could have gotten the boys’ juice flowing right out the gate. It’s got to be demoralizing to play for Rangers fans. We are the absolute worst. We tear our players and coaches apart constantly, create false controversies, and can’t even generate a playoff atmosphere in our own goddamned building.

I feel bad for AV actually. He probably is wondering why he agreed to stay. Is it any wonder he has to keep juggling lines? NOTHING works because these guys are SO overrated as true offensive talents, which is what I’ve been saying since the trade deadline. The defense is adequate. Hank is brilliant. Offense totally overrated.

Braintrust is brain-dead. AV and his subordinates are so behind the play, the Big Fade, they can’t even react.

Krieder and Helen Hayes should’ve been in the press box. Reliving their Boston prep school days. How much their respective Back Bay hedge funder, or investment banker has done for them. What kinda rims they bought for the Lambo.

The canadians are playing to win….beating the rangers to the puck…winning the battles along the boards..supporting the puck carrier. The rangers didnt come out hard in the first and set the tone. If the coach cant inspire and motivate his team then he is a lame duck. Thats why habs and bruins canned their coach. Thats why last year the penquins fired theirs. If Av can get his club going he is fish bait.

Look, this is on everyone. Players, coaches, everyone. It’s unacceptable. But, this is a team that traded arguably their best big-game center for an unproven up and comer. It’s a team that chose to let a weapon in Yandle go. It’s a team that made no move of significance at the deadline. And it’s a team that just gave their coach a massive pay raise and extension.

Add that all up and I think that all says that management has faith in this coach and knows that this is a transitional period for this team.

And, this is also I think an “audition” for certain guys to see if they really, truly are a core group worth building around.

This team has looked awful in playoff games before. They are only down 2-1. They can easily win the next one and it’s a new series.

But if not, then if your were to say at the beginning of the season, for a team many thought wouldn’t make the playoffs, that they get 100+ points and make the playoffs, that would be considered a success and anything they do beyond that is gravy.

So you first claim that Julien is putting on a “coaching clinic” display against AV, but offer no evidence.

I then suggest maybe it’s his players executing better, and ask for specific coaching tactics or adjustments that he’s made to support your assertion of a “coaching clinic.”

You respond with a laundry list of player executions, and then attribute all that broadly to the coach getting them properly motivated.

So, you don’t have anything really to point to in terms of him putting on a coaching clinic?

He just is fortunate enough to have a team that came hungry to win tonight. AV, somehow, for some cursed reason, got a bunch of alleged NHL players who took a night off. He tried a lot of adjustments. They didn’t respond. I guarantee they’re getting an earful right now, but I guess that wouldn’t really fit with the caricature so many have painted of AV.

I don’t think I’ve read one salient critique of AV on this blog in all the years he’s coached. So many critics, so little material. It boggles the mind.

Anyway, no disrespect intended Bloomer. I just don’t understand how badly so many people misunderstand what a coach actually does for a professional level team. They typically don’t give Hollywood speeches, they don’t teach fundamentals really, and they don’t micromanage their players preparation to ensure they are mentally ready for each game. They make personnel, deployment, and substitution decisions. They decide who plays, and when. They adjust matchups based on opposition. They set broad strategies and tactics to be rehearsed and hopefully executed in game. They make the ultimate call on lots of in-game decisions.

But, you know what, at the end of the day, players have to execute at the level their expected to. They need to show up ready to play. They need understand what’s on the line, and rise to the occasion. If they need AV to give a rousing speech to appreciate what’s at stake, then they’re in the wrong profession.

Imagine if we had a more animated coach like Torts…oh I forgot, he just coughed up a 3-1 lead at home, and is now down 3-0 in a series many thought they would win against an injured team. Guess he isn’t yelling enough profanities!

So I’m assuming you also believe the Jackets being down 3-0 is also on their coach as much as being down 2-1 is on AV? Or does this standard only apply to AV?

I liked Kk play tonight he dished out some stiff hits and jumped up in the play when required
Sure the long hail mary stretch pass backfired on him late in the 3rd period. But in all reality Zubov in his prime couldn’t thread that needle.

I see what’s there and not on a talent level E3. AV is being out coached and the players are being out worked. How does this team continue (for three years now) not play with any passion in the playoffs at home?

Still only game 3, I fully admit, not many Rangers showed up for this game, pretty pathetic game all around, excepting of course, Hank. However, just game 3, E3 may be right, this team s just good, but a good team can beat Montreal. LGR!

It wasn’t the coach’s fault. It wasn’t deployment or lineup or strategy. Simply put: the Rangers were outworked by the Habs all game long. If you don’t show desperation to win until the final minutes of the third period, then you are not desperate to win.

I’ve been watching a lot of player interviews the last couple days. To a man, they all spoke of the need to battle for loose pucks, get pucks on net, screen Price, get in his space, and make life difficult. Nash mentioned the need for wingers to be better on the boards and stop coughing up the puck.

You all seem to think you’re so smart, having figured out the keys to success, if only AV were smart enough to recognize and tell his players what to do.

AV and the players all know exactly what needs to be done, probably a lot better than any of us. It’s up to the players to do it. Tonight they absolutely didn’t. That should upset you, but instead let’s run with an entrenched narrative that it’s all just a coaching failure. That’s an easier fix, and makes for a clean and discernable target for your outrage. It’s misplaced. The fault lies up and down the lineup, it lies with a group of solid players who say all the right things, but don’t execute.

Fotiu, you are not wrong. What I believe Chris (and certainly speaking for myself) are saying is that the whole issue here is not solely (or even mostly) about the coach. These players are overrated. This team wa snot even supposed to be a playoff team, or if they were, just marginally. They haven’t been even close to a strong hockey team since mid-February.

They are now exactly what many thought they would be….a good team that’s far from great that right now isn’t even good.

There is plenty of blame to spread around, but in the end of the day, the real issue is, these supposed “high end” players are nowhere close to being that.

I appreciate your post. There’s certainly a great deal more substance and foundation to your perspective than the wild claims absolving players of any accountability and laying this all at the feet of AV. You’re right, the problem is organization wide at this point. Something isn’t clicking.

I’d still like to see a little more specificity in your critique of AV, as he juggled lines, he benched Holden etc so it’s not as if he’s just stubbornly sticking to a one-dimensional game plan, but I’m not looking to absolve him either. Someone, AV included, has to figure this out.

On an aside, I spent awhile in the journalism trenches as well. Sadly, I had to move on.

And good for him, but let’s see what happens going forward. Also, it sure helps when you play with a certain McDavid guy who may one day prove to be the greatest player ever. Talbot doesnt have to be THE guy. McD is. With the Rangers, it’s Hank and then his mediocre supporting cast.

Hank has been brilliant, which he usually is in the playoffs. Talbot wouldn’t be doing any better and probably would be worse if he were the Rangers goalie in this situation right now.

the rangers had a chance to play well in front of the garden faithful but didn’t answer the bell it seems the passion just wasn’t there where is it? and guys like Kreider, Miller, z-bad have to be accountable I know z-bad is not brass but play with some passion please

Well the Rangers laid an egg (again) on Easter Sunday. The boys had better wake up or this series will be a repeat of the Pittsburgh disaster last year.

I agree with some of the comments above about the Rangers being a soft team. How do you lose the puck in the corner when you outnumber the opposition 3-1? They are a soft team that avoids contact at all cost. They are outmuscled off the puck consistently and are beaten to almost every loose puck. Their tape to tape passing has disappeared. They are lucky to complete a pass. Totally frustrating watching.

Is Kreider and Hayes playing this series? I haven’t seen them doing anything. Once again it appears we will be able to tack about a somewhat successful regular season and a total washout in the playoffs.

I understand you can only go as far as the talent you have available, but the game plan here is missing. AV has not changed anything in the attack plan. If he doesn’t adjust to what Montreal is doing, he should be replaced. If I was Montreal, I would constantly take a penalty because the Rangers’ ‘power play’ is a joke.

I agree with everything you are saying except the physicality part. This is the most physical series I’ve seen the Rangers play. They are hardly “avoiding contact at all cost”. That’s just flat out inaccurate.

The execution is pitiful and frankly, our “high end” guys are overrated. That’s the problem.